The Fringe
by Ink Spotz
Summary: When Spock can't wake up from the sleeping spell cast upon the Enterprise during one of their missions, Jim embarks on a journey into the depth of Spock's mind to try to wake him up before it's too late.


"He's been like this for hours," said Bones, reaching up a head to rub his temple. Bones seriously hadn't thought the sleeping spell could effect a Vulcan, but apparently it could.

"Well, wake him up, B-Boones..." yawned Kirk, covering his yawn by burying his mouth in the crook of his elbow.

Captain Kirk had luckily been one of the first ones that Bones had managed to heal. The planet they had just come from used some sort of sleeping potion in order to overwhelm its enemies. Since Bones was on the ship, he hadn't been affected, which was convenient since he had to wake a good portion of the crew of the Enterprise up from their Sleeping Beauty slumber. The only one left to wake was Spock, and he wasn't waking up.

"He's in my chair..." said Jim in an irritable fashion. His hair was slightly askew from how he had fallen to sleep against the wall.

"Well if you have an idea on how to wake up this lug head, I'm all ears," grumbled Bones. "You're all getting your beauty rest, and I'm here to just lick all your wounds and make you all better..."

"You need a nap, Bones..." mumbled Jim as a tired smirk flit over his face.

Bones rolled his eyes as he moved to kneel in front of the Captain's chair again. Spock was currently sleeping half in and half out of the chair; his legs dangling at odd angles onto the floor. Bones moved to check the needle to make sure that he had dispensed all the serum. When he saw that he had, he glared at the needle, flicking it with a finger as if that would make it all better.

"I don't know what else to try. His body isn't reacting like everyone else's."

"Is there nothing else you can try?" asked Jim. Though he knew he was irritable because of everything that had happened, and because he couldn't be in his favorite chair, he was starting to become worried about Spock.

"Well, there is one more thing we have left to try, but it's experimental," warned Bones as he rose to his feet.

"What is it?"

"Well, to put it as simply as possible, I could link someone's brain to his. Said person would be able to wander about Spock's dreamscape in an attempt to wake him."

Jim raised a brow in question.

"Are you sure that that is going to work?"

"I told you it's experimental, did I not? Do you have cotton stuffed in your ears?"

Bones looked down at Spock as he stood alongside his sleeping form. He watched Spock as Spock's mouth fell open and one of the loudest snores known to man (and alien) fell from it. The already irritated Bones and Jim slapped hands over their ears.

"Lets do it!" shouted Jim as he kept his hands clapped over his ears.

"You need to help me move him to the med bay then!" shouted back Bones.

Jim looked around the bridge to see that the crew members that were currently present seemed to be writhing in discomfort at Spock's snores. Knowing that he had to suck it up and push his irritation away, he removed his hands from about his ears to grab at Spock. He slipped both hands under his arms, and tried to tug him up. Moving Spock was like moving a bag of rocks. Spock flopped backwards like a rag doll as Jim struggled to move him from the chair; Spock snoring unawares the entire time. Jim looked over at Bones to see that he was currently placing ear plugs within his ears.

"None for me!" Jim asked in a semi-whine.

Bones chuckled, shaking his head "no" before moving to help Jim pick up Spock. Between the two of them, they managed to awkwardly pick Spock up. They began to make a waddle like progress towards the door to be able to carry him to the med bay. They struggled with him down the hallway, waddling their way past members of the crew that were trying to rid the last amount of fatigue from their bodies. By the time they actually arrived at the med bay, Jim practically threw snoring Spock onto one of the tables. His arms were screaming at him. He rubbed an arm as he let out another yawn; a yawn that sounded like a gargling raptor.

"Geez, Jim! Did your mother never teach you manners? Cover that mouth of yours when you yawn!" chided Bones as he milled about Spock, trying to set things up.

"Sorry mother dear," teased Jim as he leaned against the wall to watch Bones.

"I don't envy you for needing to go into this Vulcan's mind," muttered Bones as he was setting things up. He rattled open a drawer to extract some medicinal supplies. Jim's eyes widened when he saw the needles. He always hated needles for some reason. He forced the shiver from his body as he allowed Bones to escort him over to another table near Spock. He laid down; eyes staring up at the ceiling.

"How long have you been working on this experimental theory of yours?" asked Jim.

"Not long enough to know if there are any side effects or not. I've been studying how Spock does his freaky mind meld thing and have been trying to replicate it. Figured it might become a useful way to interrogate enemies in the future."

"You're a doctor, Bones. Didn't think you'd go about trying to figure out ways to interrogate prisoners."

"Doctors get bored."

Bones' face soon came into view above Jim's. Jim locked his icy blue eyes on Bones as he saw Bones hold up a needle near his face.

"I'm going to put you back to sleep, Sleeping Beauty. It might pinch for a second. Due to the fact that this treatment is entirely experimental, as I've stated several times, you only have a limited time to wake Spock up. I'd say about an hour at the minimum."

"Only an hour? Do you realize how long it takes to reason with Spock when he's awake?" asked Jim before letting out a sigh. He turned his gaze away from Bones to look at the ceiling again. "How do I go about waking him?"

"The heck I should know. I'm sure you'll figure it out. If not, well, guess neither of you are waking up."

"You're so optimistic, Bones. Has anyone ever told you that?"

Bones let out a gruff chuckle before moving to roll up one of Jim's sleeves. He began to fill the needle with some sort of serum before pausing it mere inches form Jim's arm.

"Good luck, Jim. I'm sure you have no need to worry. The pointy eared pain likes you after all."

"Yeah. Still have no idea why on that one," commented Jim with a small smirk.

A few seconds later, he felt a prick of a needle followed by a sharp stab of ice cold pain. It felt as if an icicle had been shoved under his arm. He let out a small hiss before forcing his body to fight through the pain. He closed his eyes as he felt Bones place some sort of strap across his forehead. By then, he didn't have enough energy to question what the heck Bones was doing now. His eyelids were too heavy to keep open, and he soon found himself dissolving into a world of darkness and silence.

* * *

The first thing that Jim was aware of was the fact that he was lying hunched over the controls in the transporter room. Lifting his head off the panel that Scotty usually was in charge of, he saw that he was wearing a red shirt and not the yellow one that he was accustomed to wearing as Captain of the Enterprise. He jumped up from the chair, causing it to tip backwards onto the floor behind him.

"Careful with that chair, will ya?! The Captain is a stickler, and I'm not sure as if I'd get a new one."

Jim turned to see Scotty appear around the corner. Scotty sent a glare Jim's way before bending down to pick up the chair and set it upright.

"The captain?"

"Yeah, the captain. Every ship has a captain...Look Jim, I know you party hard at night, but you can'te let it interfere with your work..."

"Party?...Look, no. I just meant...Where can I find the captain?"

"Why on earth would you want to see the captain? You have a job to do."

"But I..."

"No! No buts! You already almost broke the chair, and I'm not about to let you traverse about the ship looking for the captain."

Jim knew that he couldn't stay hold up in this room without finding Spock, who he had a strong hunch was said captain. He had to wake them both up from this dream, but Scotty was adamant that he not leave. That's when Jim's eyes lit on the chair that Scotty seemed to be running a hand over with care, and an awful idea crossed into his mind.

Leaning forward, he snatched up the chair, and holding it high above his head, turned to race out of the room with it.

"GET BACK HERE!" He heard Scotty yell as he tore off down the hall with the chair above his head.

He pushed through the crew milling about the hallway as he raced towards the bridge. The hallway seemed extremely long, but thankfully he wasn't getting tired out in Spock's mind. He finally burst onto the bridge; the whole crew on the bridge turning to see him hefting a chair over his head and looking like a mad man.

"NO! I'm not putting it down until I see the captain!" He shouted down the hall at Scotty as he saw him appear around the corner.

"James?"

Jim recognized Spock's voice, and turned to see Spock standing in front of the Captain's chair; adorned in a yellow shirt as Captain.

"Spock..."

"That's captain!" shouted Scotty as he finally burst onto the bridge. He grabbed Jim about the waist unexpectedly, causing them both to tumble down the short few steps onto the ground. Jim let out a small gasp of pain as the chair tumbled from his fingers. Scotty was soon on top of him, gripping him forcefully by the shoulders and holding him down.

"I've got him Captain! He didn't want to do his duty. I tried to warn 'im..."

Jim squirmed, trying to free himself from Scotty's grip when Spock's face suddenly came into view. Jim locked his gaze on Spock's inquisitive one.

"Spock...tell him to let me up..."

"That's Captain to you," said Spock in his normally serious manner. Spock's gaze turned to look at Scotty, who was still holding Jim down. "Release Mr. Kirk."

Scotty hesitated for a mere moment before moving to get off him. Jim took that opportunity to sit up, looking at Spock. Before he could even question Spock about anything that was going on, he heard a gasp. Spock and Jim both looked to see that a small group of the crew members had gathered around the chair that Jim had dropped when Scotty tackled him.

"He broke it!" came one crew member's voice.

"First it's a chair he'll break. Next it'll be the order of things. Chaos will rain," said another crew member.

Jim couldn't believe his ears. He couldn't believe Spock's dreams were so serious about everything, even the "death" of a chair. Trying to stand up, Jim saw that a small angry mob was now standing in front of him. He dusted his red shirt with both hands as Spock stood a few feet off to the side of him.

"Everyone needs to just look at this situation logically," spoke up Spock softly.

"Stop making excuses for this rebel," said Sulu, who seemed to have materialized out of no where as the leader of the pack.

"IT'S A FREAKIN' CHAIR!" shouted Jim in disbelief that he was about to be stunned for breaking a chair. He couldn't hold it back anymore. This was just absolutely ridiculous.

Jim turned to look at Spock, hoping that the Vulcan would have enough sense in his brain to step up to the plate.

"Let me talk to the rebel. There is no need for the phaser."

"No. Let us deal with him for you, Captain. Just stand aside," said Sulu.

Jim smirked. He couldn't help it. In calling him a rebel, and making moves to stun him against the Captain's orders, they themselves were becoming rebels. Sulu saw the smirk, and not able to take it, fired the blast at Jim. Jim closed his eyes, waiting for the pain that would cause his body to spasm up on the floor. When he didn't feel the anticipated pain, he opened his eyes to see that Spock was lying on the ground.

And the gun hadn't been set to stun.

He quickly moved to bend down next to Spock's body on the floor as the crew began to murmur about what they had done. Jim looked up briefly to see that Sulu was trying (and failing) to hand the phaser off to Scotty, causing a back-and-forth fight between them over the phaser. Jim tuned them out as he moved to roll Spock onto his back.

"Why did you do that Spock?" asked Jim, noticing the wound on Spock's stomach.

"No need for the innocent to suffer due to the Captain's inability to control his crew," choked out Spock.

Jim watched as Spock reached up a quivering hand to his forehead. Jim watched with wide eyes as Spock detached his bangs and held their limp form out to him as an offering.

"Take the bangs. Take on the mantle. Become the Captain, Jim..."

Jim looked at the bangs for a second more; hearing Bones' voice in the back of his head. He had to wake Spock up, and maybe this was his way to get to him. Reaching out a hand, he claimed the bangs before moving to clip them to his forehead. The black bangs didn't match his auburn hair, but that didn't seem to bother Spock in the slightest.

"Thank you, Jim..."

A sigh passed Spock's mouth as he died in front of Jim. Jim froze. He feared that he had failed to accomplish the objective of being transported into Spock's mind in the first place. He looked down at Spock before a thought passed through his mind. If this was a dream, how could Spock die? Especially if it was his dream?

He reached out a hand to shake him gruffly by the shoulders. It was a gesture that caused Spock's eyes to fly open again. Spock locked his bewildered gaze on Jim's.

"How am I alive?"

"Oh heck, you're a ham even now..." said Jim with a smirk. "Come on. I'll explain. Let me help you up."

Jim helped Spock to his feet to the awe of all the crew.

"It's the power of the bangs!" shouted out Scotty in awe. Jim watched back in equal awe as Scotty seemed to draw out a pair of black bangs from his pocket and clip them to his forehead.

The rest of the crew did the same as Jim walked with Spock towards the corridor. As they both stepped into the corridor, a rush of cold air rushed over Jim. Soon he felt himself become light-headed and the world about him faded away.

* * *

Jim awoke with a jerk, sitting upright on the bed that he found himself on. Bones rushed over to get the strap off from around his head seeing as how, when Jim sat up, he dragged a whole bunch of equipment with him.

"You're going to break my set up, Jim. Calm the heck down."

Bones was working on getting Jim out of the equipment as he looked over at Spock in the opposite bed to see that his eyes were wide open, but he was staring up emotionlessly at the ceiling.

"Spock, how are you doing?"

"Ambulatory, Captain..."

"Great...Just...Just shut up, Spock. Will you?"

Spock was surprised by Jim's sudden exclamation, turning his head to the side to look at Jim to see that he was massaging his forehead.

"Something wrong, Captain?"

"How do you do your mind melds, Spock?"

Spock held up a hand, ready to demonstrate. Jim immediately scowled.

"No! I didn't mean you need to demonstrate it! I just meant...how can you stand to see or feel what another does? How can you put up with experiencing it?"

Spock merely shrugged, turning his attention back to the ceiling.

"Vulcans are programmed for that, Captain."

"Well, I know one thing for sure," muttered Jim as he brought his hand away from his forehead to look at Spock fully. "I can definitely see why Vulcans keep their thoughts to themselves if they are as trippy as your dreams are."


End file.
